Saturday, May 7, 2011

In honor of our special day, I have taken the liberty to list my Top 8 Worst Mothering Moments. I was going to do my Top 10, but could only think of 8. Oh well........Enjoy!

8. Accidentally letting Elizabeth fall down the stairs when she was about a year old. All the way down. She was fine. Whew.
7. Making Alexandra go to bed at 6pm one night because she refused to eat her dinner. She fell right asleep, slept all night, and didn't seem to remember any of it in the morning.
6. Laughing out loud when Elizabeth asked me if "shit" was a swear word.
5. Forgetting to have the Tooth Fairy visit Elizabeth. Not once, but TWICE. It was necessary after the 2nd time to create a huge ruse - fake letter, extra money, etc. to keep her believing. But it worked, so there.
4. Yelling "Elizabeth" really loudly across a WalMart when I watched her almost walk into the men's bathroom.
3. Letting Alexandra cry in her crib when she was a few months old at naptime because I figured she just didn't want to go to sleep. When I went in to check on her later, after she was quiet, I discovered that the reason she had been crying was because her leg was stuck in between two slats.
2. Continually calling Alexandra "Brown Leg" (a nickname I gave her after an incident with a brown marker) even though it really makes her mad.
1. Not relishing every single moment.....even the annoying and tiring ones. Because I know now how fast it goes.

Thursday, April 28, 2011

I left for a while, but I'm back now. I'm not sure for how long, but for today for sure. I can't promise anything past that.

So it seems as though the last time I had anything to say was way back on February 1st. Now, it's almost May. So that's......about 3 months.

Sure! I've been busy. We're ALWAYS busy here. I have two kids in school, a full time job, a cat, a dog and other stuff that I like to do/need to do/am obligated to do. And most of the time, that stuff takes precedence over typing on the computer for a while.

Also, I'm pretty tired usually when the kids go to bed and mostly just lay on the couch, watching TV.

But also, also, (that's sort of like a P.P.S....or P.S.S.....not sure which way is correct?) I was actually caring about what I wrote, and making sure it was OK for other people's eyes. As in: is it PC? Is it interesting? Funny? But actually, what matters is that I am at least trying to document what our life is like. Because someday my kids might actually like to hear about this stuff. And I'll be too old to remember it all. I'm too old to remember it all now already, so I can only imgaine what it'll be like in 30 years when I'm.....nevermind. I don't want to think about how old I'll be in 30 years.

So. No more followers on the sidebar....no more caring about whether or not someone has a comment for me.....no more making sure I comment on other people's blogs so they look at mine. Because it's not for them. It's for ME. And the 2 family members who like to hear about what we're doing.

School is already closed for the girls. They are very excited. Me? Still have to go to work. They said we could work from home, but I find it difficult to get anything done when I'm here. Too many distractions!

Monday, January 31, 2011

**Please sing the title line in the same tune as "Here Comes the Sun"......aren't I clever?

I live in Michigan. Granted, southern Michigan, but still Michigan. Michigan is in the north. Also, surrounded by giant lakes that combined with wind, make lake effect snow. Those two factors alone guarantee that every single winter, for a good three months, we have snow. And lots of it. Depending on where in the area you live, you might have 75 inches of snow each year.

This year, we've been pretty lucky. Not too much snow, and hardly any of those "horrible" days where it's snowing AND blowing AND 11 below.

But folks, they tell me it's coming.

Who is they? I don't know. But I like to say it because my Grandma always used to say "Well, they say......" and then go on to tell me something. And I would always say "Who are they?" and laugh. And she would laugh too. I miss my Grandma.

Anyway, in this case "THEY" are everyone.

Apparently, we are in for 10-16 inches in about 12 hours, and 20-30 mph winds, and cold temps. Brrr. I am shivering just typing it. Either because of that, or the fact that I won't allow anyone in my house to turn the thermostat up above 64 degrees. Whatever. I am shivering.

They say it's going to snow, and a lot. The kids are pretty much planning on having Wednesday off school, and I am even getting sucked in, hoping I get a snow day too. I am planning on going to work tomorrow and ask people who have been there a long time if we ever close. I hope so!

Even though it's supposed to be a big one, I say "Keep your shirts on people! We live in Michigan. It snows here. Sometimes a lot. Sometimes it's a pain to drive in, but we have a lot of snowplows and salt trucks and they do a pretty good job keeping things clear for us. IT WILL BE OK".

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Up until recently, I had been using Photoshop Elements 8 to edit and organize all of my pictures. I did a pretty good job of keeping up on the labels and organization, and had a pretty good system down.

Then Adobe came out with CS5, and I had been drooling over that, and sort of drooling over Lightroom.

Well, right after Thanksgiving, I got a Facebook message from one of the people I follow saying that Amazon was offering a "huge" discount on Lightroom 3 for like 8.5 minutes. I looked at Greg and said "I know what I want for Christmas!" and headed over to Amazon to see, sure enough, Lightroom 3 was selling for $125. Typically, it's $300. So, I clicked on "add to cart" and became the proud owner of Lightroom 3. Yay!

Fast forward (or is it fastforward?) to Christmas. I open the box and install the software. I could almost hear angels singing as I'm doing it, I was so excited.

Then, I started to use it and quickly became frustrated and annoyed because wow! was it different. And complicated. And hard.

Oh, also, around this time, I had the opportunity to get Photoshop CS4. Which I did. Which is also confusing. I know. I shouldn't really complain, right? At least I am fortunate enough to even be able have stuff like that. But still. It's confusing.

Anyway, I am finally starting to see the "benfits" of Lightroom, although I can't say I'm a total adict yet. I have figured out the organiaztion part, which is really important for me since I take so many pictures. And the developing part (editing) is cool too. Oh....it's also pushed me back to shooting in raw (different from IN the raw for those of you wondering), which I got away from. I didn't want to at first because I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to get my pictures into jpg form to be able to post here, but once I figured out how to do an export preset, it's super duper easy! The only downside I've figured out now for shooting in raw is that it literally takes like 10 minutes to upload some of my pictures to the place I get prints from. But.....when I finally order them, I bet they look fantastic!

Today, I think Lightroom is more friend than foe, but.....it took a while.

Anyway, I check her blog a few times a week, and I added her to Facebook, so one day I got this email, or notice, or whatever they're called, about a free "class" she was going to be offering for February.

It's called "The Joy of Love", and it starts on February 1st, and I'm super excited!

Every day for the month of February, she will email a different prompt and/or assignments and there will be tutorials and/or some instruction included along with it. Of course, in the way of my life, I am sure I'll miss or have to skip some here or there purely because I won't have time, but I think (?) I can go back if needed. And did I mention it's free?

Awesome!!

Please expect purely professional looking stuff from me after I am done with this. *Wink wink*